


i don't have too much but i know enough

by quiddative



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Season/Series 05, Shance Fluff Week 2018, Time Travel, implied kuron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-21 22:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiddative/pseuds/quiddative
Summary: Lance shot a panicked look at Keith but the asshole just laid there uselessly. “Don’t look at me like that,” he snorted. “They’reyourkids, after all.”What?“What?” Lance and Allura yelled.Allura turned to Kolivan with narrowed eyes. “Explain,” she demanded.Kolivan looked very much like he wanted a drink. “The two of them appear to be the Red and Black Paladins’ children from the future.”(Or: Lance and Shiro's children appear from the future and emotions ensue.)





	i don't have too much but i know enough

**Author's Note:**

> *slides into Shance Fluff Week ten minutes late with a Starbucks*
> 
> This was written for Day 3: Friends/Family...only a week late oop

Seventeen years of rom-coms taught Lance that there were three stages of romance: you met, you got together, and you got married. And then you lived happily ever after, the end.

But one year in space showed him that there was actually another stage: a half-formed purgatory tucked messily in between meeting and getting together.

That stage, Lance decided as he watched Shiro engross himself in deep discussion with Lotor about their next mission, was the worst.

He and Shiro were—well, to be honest, he had no idea what they were anymore. He couldn’t even say they had something as abstract as a _thing_ because they never actually kissed or held hands. They had definitely been on their way to _something_ in the weeks leading up to their second showdown with Zarkon but whatever progress they had made on that front all fell by the wayside when Shiro disappeared.

(Unless Lance had read all those soft lingering touches and secretive smiles wrong. But he knew he hadn’t.)

(Had he?)

Then Shiro came _back_ and Lance naively thought that they could pick right back up from where they left off. Only, they quickly got swept up by the Voltron Show, missions that had much higher stakes now than before, and Keith joining the Blades—all of which meant they barely had any time to breathe, much less spend more than a second alone together.

Even now, with Zarkon finally gone for good, Shiro seemed to only have eyes for the mission and nothing but.

And that—that _hurt_. In ways that none of Lance’s previous crushes and relationships did. Because Shiro wasn’t a safely unattainable idol anymore. He was an actual person, a friend, someone who had carved his name into a corner of Lance’s heart.

But with the way Shiro was acting now, it was like Lance was nothing more than a shadow in his periphery. Lance, for his part, felt more like an ellipsis at the end of an unfinished sentence.

(How did that saying go again? _If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Did it even happen?_ )

“Princess, we’re receiving a transmission from Kolivan,” Coran suddenly announced.

Lance shook his head. He closed his eyes and inhaled, doing what he always did whenever he got dangerously close to falling too deeply into his own head: acknowledge his emotions before promptly locking them in a chest and throwing it into the ocean to be examined at a later date.

Allura hummed as she opened the transmission, bringing Kolivan’s perpetually frowning face up on the screen. “Hello, Kolivan.”

Kolivan opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of something crashing offscreen, followed by Keith’s panicked, staticky voice yelling, “ _W-Wait! Don’t touch that—_ ”

By now, everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare. Even Pidge was no longer tinkering with her project of the week. “Is everything alright?” Allura prodded.

Kolivan looked like he wanted to sigh but was restraining himself purely out of some weird sense of decorum. “ _Everything is...as well as can be expected, considering,_ ” he said cryptically.

Allura’s brows furrowed. “Is there a reason for this call, then?”

“ _Yes. We require you, Shiro, and Lance at our base._ ” Kolivan winced when another crash echoed in the distance. “ _As soon as possible,_ ” he added, sounding desperate.

Lance blinked in surprise. He could understand Shiro and Allura’s presence being needed—what, with them being the faces of the Coalition and all—but _him_? If it was for a mission, sure, but this didn’t sound like one.

And what the hell was going on with Keith?

Allura and Shiro looked equally confused as well but it was Lotor who drawled, “Is this an emergency?”

Kolivan narrowed his eyes at him but admitted through gritted teeth, “ _Not exactly._ ”

“Then I don’t see why you need all three of them when the Princess and Red Paladin’s presence should be enough,” continued Lotor airily. “There is a much more urgent matter that requires both mine and Shiro’s attention at the moment. In fact, we were just preparing to depart before your call.”

Shiro, as if on instinct, nodded along to Lotor’s words.

A heavy stone fell in Lance’s stomach. He wasn’t too proud to admit that jealousy was a glaring factor that contributed to his uneasiness with Shiro and Lotor’s growing alliance-thing, but the one-eighty Shiro pulled when it came to trusting Lotor now compared to how he was just after Naxzela was still jarring, even downright frightening in some ways.

“I’m sure Lance and Allura can fill me in when we get back,” said Shiro placatingly, infuriatingly reasonable.

Lance normally adored his rich, soothing voice, but right now, he just wanted to grab Shiro by the collar and shake him.

Allura must have seen something of that in his face because she loudly cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “Lance and I will be there in half a varga. Is that acceptable?”

Kolivan didn’t look pleased at all but then again, Lance was pretty sure that was just his default expression. “ _Fine,_ ” he bit out before cutting the transmission.

* * *

Allura—sweet, wonderful, darling Allura—thankfully made no mention of what happened on the bridge while they were in Red, but that didn’t stop her from shooting Lance worried looks whenever she thought he couldn’t see.

That was the problem with unwittingly giving all your friends front row seats to your blossoming romance. Lance didn’t mind the attention back then—had revelled in it, even—but now he wished that he and Shiro had been more discreet.

It felt kind of humiliating to have everyone he’d been living with for the past year and a half be so intimately aware of his current relationship status (‘it’s complicated’ was putting it mildly, especially when magical sentient lion mechas were involved), even though he knew none of them actually thought any less of him or anything like that.

Allura squeezed his shoulder briefly just before they landed and he patted her hand in return. _I’ll be okay_ , he told her with his eyes, throwing in what he hoped was a reassuring grin as well. Allura didn’t look entirely convinced but seemed to be appeased enough for now. Besides, they apparently had bigger problems to worry about, if the frantic undercurrent in Kolivan’s transmission was any indication.

Kolivan immediately herded them towards the base’s living quarters without a word, ignoring Allura’s demands to explain what was happening. He eventually stopped in front of a door and turned to them with a slightly more solemn expression than normal. Or maybe Lance was just projecting.

“Are you finally going to tell us what’s going on?” Allura sniffed.

“It will be better if I showed you,” said Kolivan. He gave Lance an unreadable look that made him straighten his spine before punching a code into the keypad.

When the doors opened, the first thing Lance registered was a sound that temporarily transported him back to Sunday roasts at his mother's house.

It was the sound of laughter, specifically _children’s_ laughter.

When he and Allura peered into the room, they found Keith sitting cross-legged on the floor between two small alien children trying to fight for his knife, which he was struggling to keep above his head and out of their reach.

“I didn’t know you allowed children on your base,” Allura noted.

“We don’t,” was Kolivan’s blunt reply.

The kids looked very similar to Nyma’s species but had long, waist-length antennas instead of the rabbit ear-like appendages. They looked identical, except one of them had a light grey colouring while the other was teal.

In short, they were adorable and Lance was instantly in love. Briefly forgetting about his and Allura’s purpose for coming here in the first place, Lance stepped forward with a grin. “Wow, Keith, you’re _really_ terrible with kids.”

The kids whipped their heads up at the sound of his voice and stared owlishly at Lance for a second.

Then the teal one squealed, “Papi!”

They abruptly let go of Keith and launched themselves at Lance. He instinctively raised his arms to catch them even as his brain flatlined at their bizarre reaction.

“We’re sorry, Papi!” cried the grey one, burying their face in his stomach. “Iso and I just wanted to play!”

“Can we go home now?” pleaded the other one. They looked up at Lance with big, imploring honey-brown eyes that made his heart melt. “We missed you and Daddy!”

_...Huh?_

“Um, come again?” Lance asked nervously. He hesitantly tried to pull away but quickly gave up when the kids only held on tighter.

He shot a panicked look at Keith but the asshole just laid there uselessly, clearly enjoying the reprieve. “Don’t look at me like that,” he snorted. “They’re _your_ kids, after all.”

_What?_

“ _What?_ ” Lance and Allura yelled.

Allura turned to Kolivan with narrowed eyes. “Explain,” she demanded.

Kolivan looked very much like he wanted a drink. “The two of them appear to be the Red and Black Paladins’ children from the future.”

* * *

“They are adopted, of course,” began Kolivan. “We ran a scan to verify the younglings’ story.” As if _that_ was their biggest concern instead of the fact that two tiny alien children somehow managed to _time travel_.

(Well, to be fair, Lance could see where he was coming from. There definitely would have been _questions_ of the shout-y kind if those kids really were the products of both his and Shiro’s genes.)

(And _holy shit_ , Lance still couldn’t believe that he and Shiro were actually _going to have children in the future_ , despite the unbearably cute evidence in front of him, as well as Keith and Kolivan’s somber faces telling him otherwise.)

“They just... _appeared_ in the training room about two vargas ago completely out of nowhere,” said Keith. “And they kept calling me ‘Uncle Keith’.” The poor guy sounded so out of his element that Lance would have laughed at him if he wasn’t already having his own internal freakout.

Meanwhile, neither of the kids had let go of Lance once during the time it took them to get settled in what turned out to be Keith’s room, which obviously hadn’t been designed for more than one person. They were currently climbing all over Lance like he was a jungle gym and the ease with which they did so, more than anything else, was what convinced him that Kolivan was telling the truth.

The teal one, Iso, paused to look at Lance with such openness and trust in their eyes that Lance’s breath caught in his throat. They reminded him of his niece and nephew. God, they even looked like they were around the same age, too.

“But Uncle Keith is Uncle Keith,” they chirped. “Just like how Auntie Lulu is Auntie Lulu.” They waved excitedly at Allura, who waved back after a couple seconds of hesitation.

She still looked skeptical, although how much of that was due to her discomfort with small children rather than sensible paranoia, Lance didn’t know. “And you’re sure they aren’t the witch’s doing?” she quietly asked Kolivan once Iso’s attention was no longer on her.

“If this is the best she can come up with, then I’d be more worried for her than us,” Keith muttered. “I don’t know about Shiro, but they are definitely your spawn, Lance.”

“Hey! What the hel- _heck_ do you mean by that, Mullet?” Lance retorted, shaking his fist at the other man dramatically. “You’re just jealous that my kids are way more talented than you.” He blew a raspberry, earning twin giggles that he proceeded to commit to memory. God, these were his _and_ Shiro’s _kids_.

“We are,” Kolivan told Allura. “Slav confirmed it himself. The younglings also appear to have a great deal of knowledge about the base—knowledge that is impossible for any outsider to have.”

“Slav took one look at them and started screaming about time anomalies,” added Keith. “He’s hiding out in his room right now; said that he’s not coming out until the—and I quote— _‘walking chronal aberrations are gone lest they disrupt the space-time continuum any further and increase our chances of death by sixty percent’_ —unquote.” He had the decency to look apologetic, at least.

Lance was offended on behalf of his children and opened his mouth to say something scathing about that damn Bytor but the other kid, the grey one, spoke up before he could, “Daddy gets really red whenever Mister Slav visits and calls him a _kusojiji_ when he thinks we can’t hear him.” They suddenly froze and turned to Lance with a nervous expression on their face. “Ah, Papi! You’re not supposed to know that!”

Iso snickered and Lance immediately knew that, out of the pair, _they_ were the one to watch out for. “Uh oh, Uin’s in _trouble_.”

Ignoring Keith’s guffaw and Allura’s question about what the word meant, Lance grabbed onto this new information like a lifebuoy thrown to a drowning man. “ _Wen_?” he tried the name out.

Uin dropped down into his arms from his shoulder and pouted adorably at him. “No, Papi, _Uin_! _Ooh-en!_ ”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” said Lance, giving them an apologetic smile. “ _Uin_.”

Apparently satisfied, Uin rested their head on his chest and started playing with the strings of his hoodie.

Lance felt a small hand pull at his pants and looked down to find Iso giving him a pout that was identical to the one their sibling was just wearing. “Papi, up.” They raised their tiny arms with the confidence of a child who had done this thousands of times before.

Lance felt hot tears sting the corners of his eyes and hurriedly blinked them back. “Say ‘please’,” he said, recalling all the times he did the exact same thing with Marco’s kids.

“Up, please,” said Iso. They started wiggling their six fingers impatiently.

Lance chuckled and sat down on Keith’s bed before helping them clamber up to sit on his lap, next to their sibling. It had been so long since he held a child in his arms that he found himself yearning to keep the two of them ( _Iso and Uin_ , he thought, repeating their names over and over like a prayer in his head) here forever.

He knew that the way he was acting right now—falling so quickly in love with these unknown aliens just because the way they called him ‘Papi’ and Shiro ‘Daddy’ made his heart feel lighter than it had been since the day Shiro disappeared—was downright reckless. But, frankly, he didn’t give a damn.

As he watched Iso and Uin begin to drift off in his lap, he knew—with the same fierce determination he felt when he saw Shiro strapped to that lab table and decided that he was going to save him, and screw the consequences—that he’d give everything he had and more to these kids.

Someone cleared their throat and Lance’s head shot up, only just remembering that they weren’t alone. He almost started laughing at the dumbstruck faces Keith, Allura, and Kolivan were making but was intimately aware of his current position as a giant pillow for two sleeping alien children.

“That was...actually _adorable_ ,” whispered Allura, awed.

Keith nodded. “I need to punch something,” he declared, because _of course_ that would be his first reaction, the weirdo.

Kolivan eyed them all like there was something wrong with them, which—well, Lance couldn’t really fault him for that. “Perhaps we should inform the rest of your team about this development,” he suggested.

* * *

Shiro and Lotor were still on radio silence, which meant that the only people they could actually share the news with were Hunk, Pidge, Coran, and Matt back on the Castleship. Kolivan had offered an empty room for the kids to nap in but Lance’s instincts rebelled greatly against the idea.

He didn’t want to lose sight of Iso and Uin for even one second. His brain still hadn’t quite caught up to the fact that this was really happening, that this wasn’t a dream he was about to wake up from and forced back into a reality where Shiro didn’t seem to have any feelings for him anymore.

(If this were a dream, then he wished that it would last just a little bit longer. Surely the universe owed him that much?)

“ _How the quiznak did this happen?_ ” hissed Pidge as she, Hunk, and Coran fought to get as close to the screen on their end as possible to get a better look at the kids.

Aside from a sniffle from Iso, neither of them stirred at Pidge’s outburst and Lance breathed a sigh of relief even as he glared at her from over the top of their heads. “Well, Pidge, when two men who pilot magical robot lions love each other very much—”

“ _That’s not what I meant and you know it!_ ” she huffed. Lance could hear Matt let out an ugly snort in the background.

“I already told you, they just showed up out of nowhere,” grunted Keith, exasperated.

“Based on what little they were able to tell us and the tests we ran, all of which were completely non-invasive,” Kolivan hastily added when Lance shot him an icy glare and visibly tightened his grip on Iso and Uin, “they seemed to have stumbled upon some sort of object in their timeline that allowed them to travel back to the past. I imagine our base’s rather unique location also had an effect.”

“ _That’s all well and good but how do we send them back?_ ” Coran’s brows pinched in worry. “ _We can’t exactly care for these little ones while we’re still in the middle of a war. Children need their parents, you know_ ,” he said, not unkindly.

Lance bit back his initial urge to growl that Iso and Uin’s parents were _right here_. But, while that was technically true, he knew that Coran was simply looking out for their well-being. _Besides, we are kind of missing their other father—in more ways than one_ , he thought darkly to himself.

“Slav is working on it,” said Kolivan. “In the meantime, he recommended keeping the younglings here and away from as many people as possible to prevent any further disturbances to the timeline.”

“ _I’m coming down there,_ ” Hunk announced, already putting his helmet on.

“ _Me too,_ ” said Pidge.

Coran didn’t say anything but looked ready to bolt down to the pod bay at any second

“Did none of you hear what Kolivan just said?” said Allura, but she sounded resigned to the fact that her Paladins were once again going to do the exact opposite of what they were told. She gave Kolivan an apologetic smile but the Galra just looked pained.

“ _Allura, you don’t understand, Lance is my brother from another mother. I already called dibs on being godfather when we were sixteen. You cannot take this away from me,_ ” said Hunk, dead serious.

“ _We won’t ask anything about the future if that’s what you’re worried about,_ ” added Pidge. “ _But seriously,_ time travel,” she continued in a tone that suggested that made all the difference.

Which, Lance had to admit, she had a point.

Iso and Uin were wide awake by the time Pidge, Hunk, and Coran arrived (Matt graciously volunteered to stay behind to man the Castle with the mice, although he made Pidge swear to alert him the instant a blue British police box, of all things, showed up).

To say that the kids were ecstatic to see their aunt and uncles was putting it mildly. Kolivan cleared the base’s training room for them to run wild in and declared Keith responsible for the inevitable chaos before promptly heading in the direction of his office, where Keith claimed he kept a stash of alien whiskey.

Neither of the kids appeared to be fazed by the fact that they had somehow traveled back in time after being given an extremely simplified explanation of their situation (“So _that’s_ why Aunt Pidge is shorter and Hunkle’s beard is gone!” Uin had exclaimed excitedly, very nearly making Hunk cry.). Lance would be lying if he said the implications of their easy acceptance of the whole thing didn’t terrify him (because these were his _babies_ and, if there was one thing he always wanted for his family as a child of immigrants, it was peace and stability) but, at the same time, he wasn’t exactly surprised. Their lives were fucking weird enough already—what was a little wrench thrown in the space-time continuum in the grand scheme of things?

Then again, they were—as best as Lance could tell—around four years old in human years, so their understanding of what was happening was probably suspicious, at best.

Lance leaned against the wall near the door and watched as his children dragged their uncles and aunts into a game that sounded like the Altean version of tag. He took his phone out and began to take as many pictures and recordings as he could, savoring every laugh with the hunger of a man who just found an oasis after wandering in the desert for weeks.

He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice Keith joining him until the other man cleared his throat awkwardly and asked, “You okay?”

Lance glanced at him. Keith was watching him with an unreadable expression on his face. When they first met, Lance would have been unnerved by the intensity of his gaze but he now realized this was just how Keith was, especially when he had something on his mind. “I’m great,” he said honestly. “I mean, yeah, this whole thing is undeniably weird but, on the list of things I was worried about when Kolivan called us, this is far from the worst possible thing that could have happened.” When Keith continued to stare wordlessly at him, he added, perhaps a tad overly sarcastic, “What’s up with you, Mullet? Should I _not_ be okay with my own kids or something?”

Keith shook his head. “No, it’s just that—well, you kind of went from being a Paladin to a _teen parent_ in less than a day. Hell, that’s enough to throw anyone off.”

Lance’s chest grew warm with fondness for Keith. _Bless him, he’s starting to understand empathy_ , he thought. “Hey! I’m almost twenty, you know.” He magnanimously ignored Keith’s eye roll. “Besides, it’s actually kind of nice. Iso and Uin remind me of my niece and nephew.” He turned back just in time to watch them tackle Pidge to the ground. Pidge let out a heavily exaggerated groan, earning adorable giggles from the two of them.

Lance snapped another picture.

Keith hummed and didn’t say anything for a few seconds until, “What about Shiro?”

Lance’s shoulders stiffened. _Nevermind, Keith should just go back to being a loner with the emotional awareness of a spoon_. “What about him?” he asked tonelessly.

“I mean, it’s a pretty big deal, isn’t it? You and Shiro are going to be parents.”

Lance scowled. “Are you sure Shiro wouldn’t rather _Lotor_ be his co-parent instead of me?”

He regretted his words as soon as he spat them out. Not only was it childish and immature, but also incredibly rude and disrespectful. No matter what Shiro had or hadn’t done since they recovered him from that Galra ship all those months ago, he didn’t deserve anyone—least of all Lance—spouting blatantly untrue bullshit about him out of nothing more than petty jealousy.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, looking away. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You know that’s not true,” said Keith, voice surprisingly gentle but full of sincere conviction. “Look, I don’t know what his deal with Lotor is but he likes you. I mean—he _really_ likes you. He even told me that he was planning on asking you out once all this...” he paused to make an abstract hand gesture that apparently signified Voltron, “...was over.”

Lance’s heart was threatening to somersault right out of his throat. “Yeah?” he asked, hating himself a little for how obviously hopeful he sounded.

“Yeah,” Keith smirked. “Your hero worship kind of intimidated him at first, though.”

The feeling weakened slightly. “Wow, that makes me feel so much better about myself. Thanks, Keith,” Lance moaned, dropping his face into his hands. He couldn’t deny it, though, because his embarrassing Garrison-era crush on Shiro was well documented by Hunk and Pidge.

Keith apparently wasn’t done. “ _But_ , once you got to know him, you did something that not a lot of people have done in all the years I’ve known him.”

Lance peeked at him through the gaps of his fingers. “And what was that?”

“You started treating him like a normal human being. You made him _laugh_ , even after all the hell the Galra put him through, and you flirted with him like his scars didn’t matter.”

_Of course they don’t matter_ , Lance thought fiercely as his heart broke a little for Shiro. He knew Shiro tended to keep things close to the chest, especially his doubts, but he didn’t realize how much the older man was still affected by the scars that the Galra inflicted on him—both the physical and mental ones.

“Let’s just say his poor little gay heart couldn’t take it anymore,” continued Keith, shooting him a shit-eating grin.

“There’s nothing _little_ about Shiro,” Lance replied automatically.

Keith’s grin vanished under another eye roll. “Aaand now you’ve ruined the moment,” he sighed, but there was no heat in his voice. “Anyway, don’t worry about Lotor. Shiro’s probably still trying to get his feet back under him, so just...give him time.”

Hearing that from him was a balm Lance didn’t even realize his heart needed until now. And if _Keith_ —Shiro’s best friend and confidante—felt that way, then he had to be right.

(Right?)

* * *

Dinner was its typically rowdy affair, but the addition of two small alien children made it even _louder_. It got to the point that Lance saw several Blade members actually carry their food out of the mess hall with them, clearly unused to the noise. Kolivan was nowhere to be found so Lance could only assume he was still in his office, likely cursing the day he agreed to enter an alliance with Voltron.

They discovered very early on in their meal that small alien children hated vegetables as much as their human counterparts. Lance felt very, very smug at the fact that he was the only one who managed to get Iso and Uin to finish their food. The others all tried their hands at getting the twins to eat whenever Lance needed a break but their attempts mostly ended up anywhere  _but_ in Iso and Uin’s mouths.

(To everyone’s surprise, Allura, for all her inexperience when it came to interacting with small children, was the most successful after Lance. And he was so, so thankful that Pidge managed to get a picture of her face when Iso roared like a wild animal right before chomping down on the spoon she had been holding out for them.)

Bathtime was, if possible, even more chaotic. It took the combined effort of Lance, Hunk, _and_ Coran to herd them into the bathtub while Keith and the girls simply watched them from their spot well outside of the splash zone, the cowards. Afterwards, they spent fifteen minutes trying to coax Iso and Uin out of the tub, a process that was easily a thousand times more mentally taxing than most of the Voltron Coalition-related negotiations the team had been involved in so far. Wrangling them into the spare clothes Keith scrounged up from somewhere was equally exhausting.

And Lance loved every second of it.

Finally, Keith directed them to their rooms. He led Lance to the biggest one, which he snootily mentioned was usually reserved for “actual VIPs.”

“Oh yeah? Well, kiss my a—” Lance cut himself off when Iso and Uin turned their big, innocent eyes on him. “...arm,” he finished lamely.

Keith snickered. “Great comeback, Lance.”

The jerk even had the gall to laugh when Lance shot him a glare that silently screamed, “ _Fuck you_ ,” just before shepherding the kids into the room and shutting the door in his face.

“Can we play some more games, Papi?” Uin asked, bouncing on the bed.

“Please?” added Iso, deliberately widening their eyes.

“Nope,” said Lance loudly, sweeping Iso into his arms and dropping them onto the bed beside their sibling. “You monkeys have caused enough trouble today already. It’s time to sleep.”

Lance grinned when, right on schedule, the twins’ groans turned into yawns. His kids were seriously too cute.

He flipped the lights off, plunging the room in darkness.

Except, he hadn’t counted on Iso and Uin’s antennas to suddenly light up like glow sticks, casting a soft carnation-yellow glow in the room.

_My kids are alien anglerfish_ , he thought faintly before shrugging. _Sure, why not?_

“Wow, that’s a really cool trick,” he said as he crossed the room and laid down on the bed.

He spread his arms and the kids immediately snuggled up to him, one on each side. The combination of their body heat and the blanket was a little on the uncomfortable side but Lance was pretty sure that nothing short of an attack on the Blade’s base was going to get him to move any time soon.

Uin giggled, “Daddy said that he would never have been able to find us without our lights.”

“Is that so?” asked Lance, carefully keeping his voice casual while struggling against the overwhelming urge to ask them more questions about the future.

Did they know which planet they came from? Where did Shiro find them? What did their names mean?

(When did Shiro finally stop seeing Lance as a nuisance?)

(Did Shiro still care for Lance the same way Lance cared for him?)

Uin nodded against Lance’s shoulder and hummed, “Yeah, that’s why he calls us his sun and moon.”

“Sometimes he calls Uin _tsuki-chan_ and me _taiyou-chan_ ,” added Iso in the same know-it-all tone that Veronica got as a kid whenever she wanted to show off how smart she was.

Lance smiled, affection threatening to overflow his body. _Of course_ Shiro would give his kids astronomy-related pet names. “I don’t know, are you sure you’re not actually a jellyfish?” he teased.

Uin gasped while Iso butted their head against his side. “No! Uin is Uin and Iso is Iso!” they protested.

“Okay, okay!” Lance laughed and held his hands out in surrender.

“And Papi is Papi,” said Uin, nodding like their word was indisputably the universal truth.

“But sometimes Daddy calls you his starlight,” said Iso, poking at Lance expectantly.

Lance’s cheeks grew warm and his heart began to beat faster against his ribcage. “R-Really?” was all he was able to choke out while his brain started whirring rapidly at the revelation.

A few seconds of silence passed and the twins’ antennas dimmed a little. Lance thought they’d fallen asleep until Uin whispered, “I miss Daddy. When’s he coming home?”

An icy hand wrapped around Lance’s heart in a tight grip. They tried to contact Shiro and Lotor a few times before and after dinner, but their communicators remained stubbornly off. They still had half a quintant left before the mission was set to be completed, so Lance tried not to worry.

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” he whispered back. He stroked his hands down his children’s heads; it was the only comfort he could give them. “He’s just really busy right now but I know he can’t wait to get back to the both of you.”

He couldn’t say the same for this timeline’s Shiro but, based on everything Iso and Uin told him about _their_ Shiro, he knew that it was true.

_Hurry up and come back to us, to_ me, he pleaded, thinking of Shiro in the present.

Just before he drifted off to sleep, he could have sworn he heard Shiro’s voice, like someone shouting across a running river, “ _I’m here, Lance. And I’m coming back, I promise._ ”

* * *

_“It’s like...like I’m not myself.”_

_Lance had never heard Shiro sound so small and unsure before. It wasn’t_ right _._ _Because Shiro, out of all of them, didn’t deserve this uncertainty, especially after everything he had been through._

_“It’s probably just lack of oxygen,” said Lance, putting as much conviction into his voice as he could. “You should sit down. We’ll get through this.”_

_Shiro obeyed without protest but there was still doubt in the heavy frown on his lips and the way his stormy grey eyes seemed dimmer._

_“So, a white hole, huh?” Lance blurted out. “Bet you never thought you’d get to see that.”_

_Shiro blinked at him for a second before his frown melted into a tentative smile. “Not really. Hell, I didn’t even think I’d live to see the day where humans could actually go beyond Kerberos, yet here we are.”_

_Lance chuckled, “That’s just par for the course, isn’t it? I mean, sending people to the moon didn’t seem possible before the sixties but we did it anyway.”_

_Shiro’s smile grew and warmth spread through Lance’s chest at the sight. “What about you?” he asked._

_“Huh? What do you mean?”_

_“Well, you’d be a pilot by now if you’d stayed at the Garrison; you must have had some thoughts about what you wanted to see in space.”_

_Lance hummed as he thought about his answer. He considered trying to sound impressive by saying something like discovering life outside Earth’s solar system, for example, but that would be a lie._

_“A new element,” he answered._

_Shiro cocked his head to the side, but there was no judgement in his face, only curiosity._

_“Or, well, not_ necessarily _a new element, but something like that,” Lance clarified. “I like space—love it, even—but I always thought it would be better to...I dunno, use space travel for the benefit of humanity. Like, if I found a planet that was made of an entirely new element that can’t be found on Earth, then I could bring a sample back and some scientist like Pidge’s dad could use it to improve life on Earth.” Lance shrugged. “It sounds kind of lame when I say it out loud, I know.”_

_“No, it doesn’t,” said Shiro immediately. He scooted closer to Lance and rested a hand on his shoulder. It took all of Lance’s effort to keep from leaping at his surprisingly warm touch. “Actually, I think it’s really noble—and much better than my own goals.”_

_Lance stared at him, slack-jawed. “What the hell are you talking about?” he all but shouted. “What could be better than piloting the first ship to reach the edge of our solar system?”_

_Shiro snorted. “To be honest, that was more of a pleasant side effect than the main goal.” He looked away as if seeing something in the distance and his lips curled into a wistful smile. “All I ever wanted was to touch the stars. That’s it.” He turned back to Lance. “You have to admit that’s kind of selfish, right?”_

_His gaze was warm and there were a few loose strands of hair that hung from his fringe, partially obscuring his eyes. He was close enough for Lance to smell his deodorant (the scent of fresh laundry—of home)._

_Not for the first time, Lance dearly wanted to kiss him._

_“Nah, I don’t think so at all,” he said instead of kissing Shiro. “If you think_ you’re _selfish for wanting to do something humanity’s wanted to do since the dawn of time, then there’s really no hope for the rest of us.”_

_Shiro let out a soft laugh that rang through the empty hall like windchimes and Lance held onto that sound as tightly as he could._

* * *

They were finally able to reach Shiro and Lotor the next morning before breakfast.

Their faces had only been on the screen for less than a second when Iso and Uin started shrieking, “Daddy!” They even tried to physically reach out to Shiro with their small, chubby arms, an action that stabbed Lance right in the center of his heart.

“ _Um,_ ” was Shiro’s eloquent response. His face was the very picture of the word ‘dumbfounded’.

“Hi ‘um’, I’m Dad,” Pidge murmured. Hunk had to jam his fist into his mouth to stifle his laughter. Even Keith snorted.

Lance was too busy watching Shiro as Allura and Kolivan explained what he’d missed. A variety of emotions played across his face; shock, disbelief, fear, and—was that _longing_?

Once Allura and Kolivan were done with their debrief, Lotor—like a true nerd—immediately launched into what could only be described as an ecstatic science monologue that, truthfully, Lance only understood maybe fifteen percent of, if that.

His eyes never left Shiro, who was now staring at Iso and Uin in awe. His eyes drank them in like he couldn’t get enough of them, and the sight warmed Lance’s heart.

Shiro opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally stuttering out, “ _Uh, hi there._ ”

Uin giggled. “Daddy, you’re so silly.” Iso nodded in agreement.

Shiro gave them a shaky smile. “ _I guess I am—_ ” He suddenly snapped his mouth shut, as if an invisible hand had pushed his jaw up. He straightened his posture and a glazed look entered his eyes.

(And for one very, very brief second, Lance thought he saw the pupils glow _purple_.)

(But it was probably just a stray flare of light. It had to be.)

“Shiro?” he prompted, trying to keep his voice calm. “Is everything okay?”

Shiro shook his head and the glazed look disappeared. “ _I’m fine,_ ” he replied, but all the gentleness in his voice earlier was gone, replaced by something cold and hard.

And, worse still, he was now looking at Iso and Uin like they meant nothing to him.

Lance’s stomach churned uncomfortably.

“ _Lotor,_ ” he said hoarsely, “ _we need to leave_ now.”

“ _Of course, of course,_ ” said Lotor, his hands already flying all over the controls of his ship. “ _This is rather exciting, isn’t it? We could learn so much from these creatures—_ ”

“These ‘creatures’ are _my kids_ ,” Lance growled. He felt two sets of tiny hands clutch his legs and automatically brought his hands down to pet Iso and Uin’s heads soothingly. “And if you try to treat them like they’re some kind of science experiment—”

“ _Come on, Lance,_ ” Shiro interrupted, frustration bleeding at the edges of his voice, “ _you know we can’t let an opportunity like this go to waste._ ”

Lance had never wanted to punch the man as much as he did right now. “ _Opportunity?_ ” he yelled. “Shiro, they’re just _kids_! _Our_ kids!”

“Lance has a point,” said Allura, glancing at Shiro uneasily. “They’re children, first and foremost, and should be treated as such.”

Out of the corner of Lance’s eyes, he caught Keith frowning at Shiro.

Shiro pursed his lips. “ _Fine,_ ” he exhaled. “ _We’ll discuss this in more detail when we get back. Princess, could you open a wormhole for us?_ ”

“The teludav still needs a few vargas to recharge,” said Coran. He, too, didn’t look pleased with Shiro. “Sorry, Shiro, but it looks like you’re on your own for now.”

Shiro clenched his fist. Lotor, surprisingly, didn’t seem too put out. “ _Not to worry, it should only take us three vargas to get there._ ”

And with that, they ended the transmission.

* * *

Breakfast was more somber in comparison to last night’s dinner but Lance was grateful that his friends carefully steered clear of any conversation topics that could potentially lead to Shiro.

They hit a temporary snag when Iso timidly asked, “Is something wrong with Daddy?” The fearful look in their eyes almost pushed Lance into calling Shiro back to tear him a new one for putting it there.

Instead, he kissed the top of Iso’s head. “He’s just not feeling well, that’s all. And you have to remember that this Daddy—um, hasn’t met you yet. But once he does, I’m sure he’ll start acting more like the Daddy you’re used to.”

It took a while for Lance to get the twins to let go of their koala grip on him long enough to eat but eventually succeeded. Little by little, with everyone’s help, Iso and Uin’s cheerful demeanour returned until it was like their disastrous transmission with Shiro and Lotor never even happened.

Lance knew the others were going to want to talk about it later but right now, his first priority was to be a good parent and he was more than happy to throw himself into the role.

After breakfast, Kolivan suggested (read: insisted) they return to the training room in an obvious ploy to keep them out of the Blade’s way. He gave them a brief update on Slav’s progress (“He is currently pursuing a number of promising leads. It is only a matter of time,” to which Pidge muttered under her breath, “That’s scientist-speak for ‘we ain’t got _jackshit_ ’.”) before once again leaving them to their own devices.

This time, Iso and Uin decided that they were going to have a tea party and _everyone_ was invited.

They were halfway through Coran’s admittedly enthralling story about the time Allura’s father had to post bail for him when a deafening crack like a whip echoed in the air, followed by what looked like a miniature wormhole appearing in the corner.

Lance immediately shot to his feet and placed his body in front of Iso and Uin, bayard drawn in its sword form. The others quickly followed suit.

“Papi?” gulped Uin. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Lance admitted. “But we’ll protect you from whatever it is, I promise.”

“Here it comes,” said Allura, flexing her grip on her bayard.

There was a shadow in the mouth of the wormhole, and it grew closer and closer until its shape became more humanoid. Finally, whatever it was stepped out of the wormhole, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered figure wearing a very familiar set of black and white armour. The figure took off his helmet and—

“ _Holy quiznak_ ,” Hunk whispered, awed.

It was _Shiro_ —only, also not him. He had the same handsome square-jawed face as the Shiro Lance had come to know (and even love), but there were crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes that made him look more distinguished. His hair—which had somehow turned completely _white_ —was also longer and tied up in a messy bun that Lance found himself itching to run his fingers through.

He didn’t think that Shiro— _this_ timeline’s Shiro—could get any hotter if he tried, but apparently he was dead wrong about that because the proof was _right in front of him_.

The other Shiro’s gaze landed on their group. “Iso? Uin?” Holy crow, his voice was actually _deeper_ and that was just not fair.

The twins scrambled to their feet. “Daddy!” they exclaimed in unison.

Before Lance had time to react, they rushed past him and tackled the other Shiro in a hug that he seemed all too happy to return. Lance swallowed the lump that had suddenly lodged itself in his throat at the sight. They looked like three puzzle pieces that were slotted perfectly together with no room for anyone else.

A few seconds passed before the other Shiro broke the hug and gently cuffed the kids over the back of their heads, making them yelp. “You are in so much trouble,” he declared, shaking a finger at them. “Do you have any idea how worried your Papi and I were when your Uncle Keith told us you were missing? You both know full well that you’re not allowed to touch anything at the Blade of Marmora’s base without permission.”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you guys trusted Keith to be your babysitter,” Pidge cackled.

Keith swatted her arm and scowled, “Hey, I resent that remark!”

“Duly noted.”

“But we were fine,” protested Iso. They pulled at the other Shiro’s hand and pointed at Lance. “See? Papi’s here, too!”

Lance froze as the other Shiro’s eyes met his. The other man’s eyes widened fractionally before melting into something warm. He was looking at Lance the same way this timeline’s Shiro used to look at Lance sometimes before he disappeared, but there was something _more_ in his gaze. There was so much fondness spilling out of his entire body, as if it simply couldn’t— _refused_ to be contained, that it threatened to drag Lance under.

All Lance could do was gasp against the current.

“Lance,” said the other Shiro quietly. He breathed Lance’s name like there were entire _sonnets_ in it.

And Lance, like an absolute _buffoon_ , simply responded with a wave and a weak, “Er, hi.”

But the other Shiro, for some reason, seemed to be _endeared_ by it. “You look so young,” he said. His gaze swept over the others before returning to Lance. “You all do.”

“That’s kind of what happens when you travel back in time, you know,” Pidge piped up. “Hazards of the Paladin trade and all that.”

Shiro barked out a deep, rich laugh that was so different from the way he laughed now that Lance nearly jumped. There was no reservation whatsoever and it sounded so much _freer_ than what he was used to hearing. _I want to make him laugh like that_ , Lance’s brain suddenly decided, unbidden.

_Down, boy_ , Lance told himself.

“I can’t deny that.” Shiro grinned, showing off perfectly white teeth. “Anyway, I’m really sorry for all the trouble these two have caused…” He paused to give the twins a pointed nudge and they schooled their faces into a well-practiced, contrite expression. “...but we’ll be out of your hair in just a few ticks.”

“ _But I have so many questions_ ,” Hunk whined.

Keith elbowed him in the side. “It’s probably for the best,” he said, even though Lance could tell from his tone that he was just as curious as they all were.

Shiro’s grin widened and he winked— _actually winked_ —at them, hammering the final nail into Lance's coffin. “Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry in the least, “but you’ll have to wait a few more years for them.” He grabbed the twins’ hands and began leading them to the wormhole. “Alright, say goodbye, you little monkeys. Let’s not keep Papi waiting.”

“But what about _this_ Papi?” Uin cried, turning back to Lance and pinning him where he stood with big watery eyes. “We can’t leave him here!”

“Yeah!” added Iso, tugging Shiro’s arm. “He won’t have us anymore and he’ll be all alone!”

Lance swallowed when Shiro frowned at him. As touched as he was, the last thing he wanted was his own children’s pity. There was just something so depressing and _wrong_ about that.

“It’s okay,” he stammered, raising his hands placatingly. “You don’t need to worry about me! Besides, I’m not alone, see?” He gestured to the others behind him and gave them what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Not to mention, Shir—your Daddy’s coming back really soon and then everything’s going to be okay.”

“But you said that Daddy was sick,” Uin pointed out.

“Yeah,” said Iso, looking up at her Shiro with imploring eyes. “He was acting really weird earlier.”

Shiro’s frown deepened but he didn’t actually look surprised by this revelation. “I guess you have a point,” he said before suddenly smiling. “We’ll just have to give Papi a proper goodbye, huh?”

Then, to Lance’s horror, the three of them started walking _towards_ him. He glanced back at the team for help, only to find them clustered together on the other side of the training room and watching him as if to silently say, “ _Sorry, you’re on your own now_.” Hunk and Coran gave him an encouraging thumbs up.

Traitors.

He turned back just in time for Iso and Uin to tackle him in a hug that nearly knocked him off his feet. His lips melted into a smile of its own volition and he bent down to wrap his arms around them, concentrating on memorizing the way their small bodies felt against his.

“We love you, Papi,” Uin whispered into Lance’s shoulder, rubbing their cheek against his.

“Tell Daddy to hurry up and find us,” demanded Iso with the audacity that only a child who’s known nothing but love from their parents could have.

Each word pierced Lance’s heart like a knife. He kissed the top of their heads and squeezed them closer to his chest. “I love you, too,” he whispered, voice cracking. “I love you both so much and can’t _wait_ to meet you for real.”

Somehow, he was able to summon the strength to pull away from them and stand up. The twins squeezed his hands one last time before returning to Shiro’s side.

Shiro was openly staring at him. Lance forced himself to ignore the way the older man’s gaze made his heart skip a beat and gave him a watery smile. “Well, I guess I’ll see you guys on the other side?” he tried to joke.

He stopped breathing when Shiro stepped forward and grasped his chin between the thumb and index finger of his left hand, his touch so painfully gentle. “S-Shiro?” he gasped.

Shiro closed the distance between them and brushed their lips together.

Now, Lance had kissed plenty of people before but this—this kiss carried something that none of his previous ones had. It didn’t have a name but it felt big—monumental, even, and made every cell in his body sing.

Then Shiro pulled back and it was over. Lance wanted to cry.

But Shiro surprised him once again by pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his breath ghosting over Lance’s skin like a caress. “I know I’m asking a lot, but please wait for me.”

Lance got the strangest feeling that he wasn’t just referring to his Shiro’s current physical absence.

He nodded dumbly anyway. “I—yeah, I will.”

Shiro smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll see you soon, my starlight.”

Then, as if in a dream, Lance watched as he put his helmet back on, grabbed the twins by their hands, and led them to the wormhole. “Bye, Papi! Bye, everyone!” shouted the twins, waving at them all.

Before Lance could even blink, the wormhole disappeared and with it, any hint that they had ever been there.

No one said anything for a few seconds until Keith cleared his throat, “Well, uh, that happened.”

It was like the wave that broke the dam. Lance dropped to his knees, only faintly aware of his friends’ alarmed yelling.

“I’m okay,” he said when he felt Hunk and Allura’s hands pull him up. “My legs just fell asleep, that’s all. No big deal.”

“Dude, I think Shiro broke you,” said Pidge.

“To be fair,” said Hunk pragmatically, “this is _Shiro_ we’re talking about. And don’t forget the—oh, I dunno— _incredibly emotionally taxing quintant we all just went through_ …”

But Lance was already tuning them out as his brain replayed the last few minutes like a broken record.

_My starlight_ , Shiro had called him.

My _starlight_.

_Yeah, I’ll wait_ , Lance thought fiercely. _But you better get here soon or I’ll kick your ass myself_.

(Somewhere in the distance, he thought he could hear Shiro laugh.)

* * *

(Shiro and Lotor were decidedly _not_ pleased when they returned to find that the kids were gone, but by that point, nothing they could say could bring Lance’s mood down.

He had a family waiting for him and _like hell_ was he going to let anything keep him away from them.)

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was wondering, I took the kids' names from the first few letters of Isolde and Guinevere from Arthuriana because I'm terrible with names and also a nerd.
> 
> I tried to keep the brainwashed!Shiro-or-Kuron stuff as open to interpretation as possible but I guess we might(??) find out which theory is correct in less than two days??
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing this! Comments and kudos are love!
> 
> Come yell at me about all things Voltron at my vld blog [@oricnde](http://oricnde.tumblr.com) and about literally anything else at my main [@britomarttis](http://britomarttis.tumblr.com)!


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